What can DCA's actually do?

[mekcuf]

Hi All

 

Can anyone provide a definitive answer (or weblink), with regard to what DCA's can and cant do

 

From reading this site and others, I get the impression that they can to do much apart from bluster and threaten- is this really the case

 

I owe Lloyds 2000 pound, wife received letter the other day ( I am in Saudi Arabia), from a Private Detective/Tracing agency saying pay up, or they will obtain a Statutory Demand- my wife called them and told them I am not there, they said they will send someone round, etc- she was frightened by this , I told her to tell them to B****r off if they did call.

 

I will write to them when I get home, (the CCA letter)

 

This has made me more determined to pursue Lloyds for the bank charges they have ripped me off for over the last few years

 

Thanks for your help

[payingonlyencouragesthem]

If you are working in Saudi then £2k shouldn't be a problem just pay it and shake Lloyds down for illegal charges when you get home. This will stop your poor wife from being harassed. If you are working in Saudi and £2k is a problem then I assume you are in some form of indentured labour for which these delightful people are so famous. Get help from the British embassy if this is the case.

[mekcuf]

Thanks

 

2K is a problem right this moment, but wont be in a few months time

 

I am more concerned with the point relating to what DCA's can do

 

I have thought about writing to Lloyds directly, and offering to pay so much a month, rather then pay these parasites

 

Howver I can do nothing in the meanwhile as I am here, not home til Xmas

[payingonlyencouragesthem]

If you do actually owe the money then it's probably best to deal with Lloyds directly. Make some plausible excuses as to why it got to the DCA phase and try to get the DCA out of the picture.

[demon_x_slash]

DCAs cannot actually do anything really, unless they get a judgement at court stage. This seems to be nowhere near that yet, so they may NOT force entry, may NOT 'bring a locksmith round'/'bring police round'/'send you to prison' etc.

However, your wife must do a couple of things to ensure her safety and the security of your home. If they do come knocking: she must never let them in, nor sign anything they give her. I'd refuse anyone who knocks and 'just wants to use your loo' too... Get her to put a security chain on the door, but she shouldn't even open it to speak to them - letterbox or window on the first floor is best. Have her take a picture of whoever comes to collect (if they do).

If she is out, she MUST lock all doors and windows, even the top floor (Whistleblower showed one up a damn ladder trying to get in an open window). If she is in, then the bottom ones at LEAST should be locked.

If there is a car in your driveway, get your wife to put it in your locked garage or get used to parking a few streets away - DCAs have been known to clamp and threaten to tow as a way of extracting payment.

 

Have I forgotten anything, people?

 

Is it possible to get your wife online and on-site? Reading other peoples' experiences can be quite comforting, and she'd have immediate access to help in the chatroom or via PM if anyone does knock. If she's truly afraid, I'm sure someone in the area on here can offer to be a bailiff-buddy, and pop 'round if anyone's expected for moral support.

 

Edit: Just a thought - if you laid it on thick with Lloyds about the stress this has put your wife under, a 'nervous' lady living on her own having to deal with a very threatening phone call from heavy-handed collectors for a debt that is nothing to do with her, they may offer to take it back a little more easily - harrassment of debtors, along with demands of payment in full, contravenes the OFT's debt collection guidelines, and the OFT's starting to look more closely at companies doing so.

[blackrain]

They can do nowt if they don't own the debt. They can start court proceedings if they do own the debt. That's it. Tell your wife to tell to either ignore them or tell them to leave or she will ring the police for trespassing.

[wulfinuk]

I'll most probably be booed for this but i a work for a DCA myself (I'm one of those horrible people that phone you and say you owe us money, you need to pay now. I'm a nice person in real life though).

DCAs cannot force entry to your house in any way, shape or form. We are there to obtain the money but cannot seize goods of any kind. The only way to seize goods is to get a court order and for that court order to be ignored in which case they can send bailiffs round.

I would actually say that for a debt of 2K they most probably wouldn't go down the litigation route anyways (at least my company wouldn't) as it is far too expensive. They would most probably just carry on phoning.

What I would recommend is either yourself or your wife calling them and saying that you can't afford the full balance just now but maybe able to settle your account in a few months. in trhe meantime I can make payments of X amount each month so you can freeze any interest on the account. If that doesn't work tell them you will pay £1 a month until suach time you can clear the debt. This way if they try to take you to court for non-payment you can show that you were willing to pay the debt back even if it was only at £1 a month at the time.

Hope this helps

[bigkacker]

DCA's are class.

 

I work for a DCA and have done for two months now. DCA's can do very little else than threaten you, if they send someone arround the house you can tell them to F**K off, only a bailif can enter your propery with a courtorder after you have defaulted on a CCJ and even then he can't force entry.

 

Try and negotiate a discounted settlement with the DCA I will give a discount of 50% if a customer wants to settle, after all DCA's buy accounts for very little in the first place.

 

Come to an arrangement with the DCA and if that's still not acceptable send them a letter stating that they may no longer contact you by telephone and if they persist you can report them to the FSA and Oftel who will likely fine them for acting in contravention of the Debt Collection guidelines laid out by the FSA and also the calling guidelines as set out by Oftel.

 

It is also illegal for a DCA to threaten you with any action they do not have any intention of taking.

[seylectric]

They can't do much legally, and I feel that the tactics most of them use such as insisting that you MUST pay NOW via continuous phone calls and visits is illegal harrassment, and if anything we should all be negotiating what amount of compensation they are willing to offer us pending legal action.

 

However a good tactic is to pay a few quid when you can DIRECTLY to the people you owe the money to, not to the DCA. Why? Because the creditor, such as Lloyds in this example, probably won't bother to write to the DCA telling them you have just paid them a fiver. You can then claim that the amount owed is in dispute as the DCA's figures will be incorrect. As such it would be improper of them to go ahead with court action, and 99 times out of 100 they probably won't risk it if there is a possibility that they will lose. Paying a bit off and using this tactic buys you more time if nothing else.

[mekcuf]

Thanks to all for your responses

 

Will probably contact lloyds in the first instance, explain Ive been abroad, missed correspondence etc, and see what they say, would rather dela with lloyds then the DCA if I can help it

[therafalution]

I have been dealing with tsb and once i got beyond the call centre and started to deal with the collection people they were pretty reasonable. I had missed a couple of payments and they passed it onto their solicitors, i got in touch with tsb and they set me up on another plan. Call them they can only say no after all.